Students and curators from the HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL paint transport at an Indian University

In early February, eight students from the St. Petersburg HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL, along with Mitya Kharshak and Ekaterina Filipenko, traveled to India to visit their partner university, LPU, meet with local visual arts masters, and leave their own artistic mark on the campus.

A unique local visual phenomenon — truck painting — caught the attention of Mitya Kharshak, the head of the St. Petersburg HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL, during his trip to the AICGS conference in October 2025. The idea to create a partner course dedicated to this craft was born almost immediately, and by December, students from the St. Petersburg campus were able to apply for the first international elective course, "On the Road: HSE x India Truck Art Lab."

The focal point of the course was the trip to India, where the students personally participated in the tradition of transport painting. Now, their artworks decorate the trains on the LPU campus. In preparation for the trip, the students studied Indian mythology and visual traditions.

Before working on their own paintings, the students went on three research trips to truck stops where local artists work. They presented their academic projects to LPU students, drawing an audience of over 500 people. Together with Mitya Kharshak and Ekaterina Filipenko (head of the Contemporary Illustration track), they also conducted a series of master classes for design students.

Anzhelika Sarkisyan and Elizaveta Ostrovskaya, first-year master's students in the Art Direction of Cultural Institutions track: "The last two days were packed with project work and master classes: for the LPU students, Mitya Kharshak held his famous workshop on monograms, Ekaterina Filipenko hosted one on animation and illustration, and we conducted the 'Module letters' class on modular typography. We invited participants to work with stencils designed by Fedor Abroskin (curator of the Communication Design track)..."

Currently, the students are working on a research film and a book about their trip, while the HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL is preparing to host students from their partner university in St. Petersburg in the summer of 2026.

Mitya Kharshak, Head of the HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL – St. Petersburg: "We delivered a very impressive presentation of the St. Petersburg HSE ART AND DESIGN SCHOOL at our partner university. Our students did an excellent job speaking publicly in English, and our Indian colleagues showed great interest in their projects, asked questions, networked, and engaged with us."